French animation studio BIBO Films is working on a new CG short called French Roast directed by Fabrice O. Joubert and with character designs by Nico Marlet. The short has a production blog—written in French but with lots of pics. The studio is also wrapping up its first feature—A Monster in Paris—directed by company founder Bibo Bergeron (co-director of Shark Tale and The Road to El Dorado).

(Thanks, Matt Jones)

Now that you can buy a copy of my Pink Panther Guide for as little as 24¢ on Amazon, MGM Home Entertainment is including it with The Pink Panther Ultimate Collection a DVD collection of all almost all Panther live action features and animated shorts owned by United Artists (MGM). This does not include Return of The Pink Panther with those gorgeous Richard Williams opening titles. However, among the 18 dvds are more Inspector, Roland and Ratfink and Ant and Aardvark cartoons than you’ll ever need. Oh, and I as I’ve mentioned, they’re throwing in a copy of my Ultimate Pink Panther book. The Pink Panther Ultimate Collection will cost $199.98 and will go on sale November 25th. More details are posted here.

Don Hertzfeldt has just completed his latest short, I Am So Proud of You. It’s his longest work to date, and to celebrate he’s going on a 16-city US tour this fall. During these events, he’ll screen the new short, as well as show some of his older films and speak with audiences. Below is the list of cities he’ll be appearing in. More details on his site BitterFilms.com.

I’m still at Cinecon watching movies. Picked up a few nice stills and lobby cards in the dealers room. Here is something I got cheap: an incredibly ugly Spanish movie poster for Beaver Valley and some Disney cartoons, with the strangest drawings of Mickey, Donald and Goofy… err, Pluto, ever seen on studio approved publicity. I both love it and hate it. And that giant realistic beaver hovering above them doesn’t help. Click on thumbnail below to see larger image of the piece.

“Too Art for TV” has put out a call for entries for its 2008 edition. The yearly New York art show, founded by Liz Artinian (the color supervisor on The Venture Bros.), is “designed to promote and encourage the fine arts in the animation industry.”

All types of art media are accepted for consideration, and 25-35 artists will be selected for the exhibition. According to the submission site, “All applicants are selected by committee this year. Our committee members are artists in the industry who have been pre-invited to help with the show. This year’s committee members (so far) are Kelly Denato, Todd Lown, Christy Karacas, Jared Deal, and Justin Simonich.”

The deadline to submit an application is September 5. The exhibition will take place in November at the Erebuni Gallery Space in Williamsburg.

Here’s news that’s sure to please a lot of folks. Pendleton Ward’s quirky Adventure Time short has been picked up for a full-series commitment by Cartoon Network, according to this Animation Guild story. The cartoon was originally produced for Nickelodeon’s Random! Cartoons, the as-yet-unaired (I think) shorts series produced by Fred Seibert.

As a refresher, here’s the original Adventure Time short:

(Thanks, Adrian)

As we head into the long holiday weekend, I thought it’d be nice to take a moment and share some inspiring images I’ve run across this week. Most of the artists represented below work in animation, though a couple work in consumer products at Disney.

Lou Romano offers a sneak peak from a personal animated short he’s currently working on that’s based on the poem “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe.

Quick sketches by Will Finn of his two young sons.

Four superb gouache paintings of LA scenery by Sam Michlap.

Stephane Kardos is sketching on his iPhone(!) here and here.

Great production and development artwork throughout Luc Desmarchelier’s blog (make sure to browse the archives). He even makes films like Road to El Dorado and Spirit look enticing which is no cakewalk.

This piece by Matt Cruickshank is one of the single best pieces of stylized illustration I’ve seen in a long time. The inventiveness and playfulness is matched only by the sophistication of color, pattern and composition. Certain parts of it remind me of Stuart Davis too.

I don’t think there’s any animation fan left online who’s not aware of the Totoro Forest Project taking place next month at Pixar and the Cartoon Art Museum, but I have to link to the project’s blog, which is filled with quality work like the piece above by Mike Lee.

If you are wondering where I am this weekend - I’m hanging out all day and night at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, attending the annual Cinecon convention. Cinecon is essentially a non-stop schedule of screenings of classic Hollywood films - from 1914 through the mid-50s, new restorations of mostly obscure films, projected in 35mm, from 9am to midnight for four days. Highlights include several films with Shemp Howard, the final chapters of The Iron Claw, and the rare Krazy Kat cartoon, Southern Exposure. Complete schedule here.

Also on the program, a rare theatrical showing of Crazy House, Olsen and Johnson’s zany follow-up to Hellzapoppin’. Someone posted the first five minutes of this film on You Tube. Check it out and you’ll have an idea of how bizarre this film is. And what kind of films I’ll be seeing this weekend.